The present invention relates to a hand tool for dispensing plastic fasteners, and more particularly to a novel plastic fastener dispensing hand tool that reduces inadvertent user needle sticks by employing a novel anvil design and a novel needle casing for needles utilized by the hand tool.
Plastic fasteners of the type comprising an elongated flexible filament having a first enlargement at one end of the flexible filament and a second enlargement at the opposite end are well-known in the art and widely used in commerce. One common application for this type of plastic fastener is to attach labels, price tags or other items to articles. Traditionally, a plastic fastener dispensing hand tool (commonly referred to as a “tagging gun”) having an exposed stationary needle has been used to dispense plastic fasteners to attach labels, price tags, or other items to an article. Tagging guns having an exposed stationary needle are known, examples of such tools including those disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,639,006, 5,683,025, and 5,772,073.
The design of these known tagging guns results in several operating issues. First, the basic design of exposed needle tagging guns lends to unnecessary risks that may result in operator injury. The exposed needle of the tagging gun presents the problem of inadvertently causing injury to a worker and also accidental needle breakage, as the pointed end of the needle is always exposed. While some sort of needle protection device is often provided to cover the exposed stationary needle when not in use, the needle protection device often becomes lost once the tagging gun is introduced into the workplace, and does nothing to protect against needle breakage.
Furthermore, the operation of known exposed needle tagging guns leads to a high risk of operator injury. The design of the above-identified tagging guns requires an operator to, first, insert the exposed stationary needle through a label or price tag, then, pierce the article the operator wishes to attach the label or price tag to with the exposed stationary needle, and finally, actuate the tagging gun to dispense a plastic fastener to attach the label or price tag to the article. During this process, the operator is exposed to two operations that may result in operator injury. First, the operator may inadvertently stick himself or herself with the needle as the operator attempts to insert the needle through the label or price tag. Second, the operator may inadvertently stick himself or herself with the needle as the operator pierces the article with the needle.
An additional operating issue associated with the design of the known tagging guns is that the above described process of attaching a label or price tag to an article requires a high level of dexterity. The operator is required to simultaneously manipulate both the label or price tag and the article to which the label or price tag is being attached while simultaneously manipulating and actuating the tagging gun. The likelihood of an operator sticking himself or herself with the exposed needle is greatly increased as an operator will take less care to avoid sticking himself or herself with the exposed needle when the operator is distracted and preoccupied with coordinating the many tasks necessary to operate the tagging gun.
Finally, the procedure for replacing the needle of known tagging gun designs further increases the possibility of operator injury. To replace the needle of known tagging guns, the operator is required to directly grasp the needle. Because the needle of the tagging gun is small, grasping the needle requires a high level of dexterity. An operator may find difficulty in grasping the needle, and there exists a high probability that an operator may accidentally stick himself or herself with the needle as the operator struggles to remove the needle from the tagging gun.
Therefore, what is needed is an improved tagging gun that reduces the risk of operator injury during the use of the tagging gun. Specifically, it is desired to provide a tagging gun that reduces that chance of operator injury during the attachment of labels or price tags to articles, and also during the replacement of the tagging gun needle.